“Devoted to Paul Bunyan”

Redwood trees have long been a source of fascination for tourists to Northern California-- but with their imposing size, they really do have to be seen in person to be truly experienced. You can always hit one of the drive-thru trees (like the classic Tour-Thru Tree) on your trip, but it can be a lot nicer to actually get out of your car and stretch your legs (and not have to wait in line forever). Enter The Trees of Mystery a classic roadside attraction that will transport you back in time to the glory days of the road trip.

The main attraction of The Trees of Mystery is their Kingdom of Giants trail, which gives you a good introductory lesson on redwood trees and what makes them so unique before taking you past some of the most interesting specimens you'll ever see. Their tallest redwood is called the Brotherhood tree, and at 297 feet tall, it's hard to imagine how big it was before it lost 74 feet off the top in a storm years ago. You can also see their Candelabra tree, a fallen redwood with several other trees growing out from its trunk, the twisting, massive roots of the Elephant tree, and the Cathedral tree, which is actually 9 separate redwoods growing together as one-- the distinctive shape comes from the fact that the trees grew around a dead redwood, which rotted away over the years. Weddings and Easter celebrations are frequently held at the Cathedral tree.

Trees of Mystery offers more than just unique tree formations and hikes as well. You can load yourself onto a gently swinging gondola for a ride up through the redwood forest and into the mountains, where you'll get a totally different view of the trees, as well as the surrounding landscape and the Pacific Ocean. There's also a museum dedicated to the artifacts and telling the history of the very first Americans-- the trees were especially important to Native Americans, so it makes sense that Trees of Mystery would want to honor them. And in keeping with the classic roadside attraction thing, they have a trail lined entirely with statues carved from redwoods-- some featuring everyone's favorite folk hero, Paul Bunyan. The Trees of Mystery even has a cafe and a classic roadside motel, which boasts an excellent location right near the beach. And as a souvenir, you can purchase a redwood seedling of your very own; it might not grow large enough to be able to drive through, but who knows! Only time will tell. -Roadtrippers

We are an 8/10ths of a mile groomed interpretive trail through the awe-inspiring Redwoods of Northern California. Part of the trail (The Trail of Tall Tales) is devoted to the myth and mythology of Paul Bunyan, America's larger-than-life logger from the turn of the century. The trail, museum, gift shop, restaurant and motel are geared toward the family or group traveler. The trail is open and maintained year-round. We offer a shuttle to Sky Trail for those who cannot easily walk the trail.

For us it has been a fifty year love affair with the Super natural magic of the Redwoods, the touring public and the wonder and amazement on the face of a five year old hearing Paul Bunyan say "Hi there, friend! Welcome to the Trees of Mystery!"

In the summer months, our 49 foot 2 inch tall Paul Bunyan and his 35 foot tall friend, Babe the Blue Ox, waves and welcomes you to the Trees of Mystery. The free admission End of the Trail Native American museum is one of the very best privately owned collections in the world.

Plan to spend at least half a day with us, there is much to see and do! The Trees of Mystery is located on Highway 101, 36 miles south of the Oregon border. We are 320 miles north of San Francisco. We are in the center of the Redwood forests of California, adjacent to the world famous Klamath river and of course, right on the Pacific Coast.

The Candelabra tree is another example of the Redwoods incredible will to survive. A fallen Redwood will commonly send shoots up as new trees and indeed this is how many trees get their starts. This one is a remarkable specimen because of the open space underneath.

It's easy to write this place off as kitsch, what with the Paul Bunyan outside, but the admission fee gets you multiple hikes, an aerial tramway ride, a museum, and maybe some other stuff. The hikes are genuinely pleasant and you get to learn and see quite a bit. And yes, it's still got hints of classic roadside kitsch-- but a good amount.

Our 3 and 5 year old loved this! The giant Paul Bunyan talks to you (I couldn't see where anyone was hidden, so even I thought it was fun). The trees aren't all that mysterious, but the walk through the trees was really nice. Some uphill but it's short and accessible. You can also take a shuttle to and from the skytram. The skytram was really great as well. A nice stop if you're headed up the 101, and accessible to RV's.

Never thought I would say this, but we loved it. My 13 yo kept asking to stop and it became our primary destination on the North Coast. The place is straight out of a 50's road trip. Very "retro cool" according to the teenage travel agent.

We really enjoyed our stop here! The Paul Bunyan and Blue the Ox giant statues out front are a fun, free photo op. I went with my friend and took the sky trail to the top - for us, it was worth it. Huge redwoods, great misty view as you ascend, and a decent area up top to walk around. Includes a hike with awesome logging art that had human figures and northwest wild life. Many of the plants and trees are labeled so it was pretty informative. The gift shop was awesome, too! We like vintage type items usually, I guess classic style - and they had great mugs and other goodies we liked. We were on a road trip down to Arcata from Portland and were glad we stopped here.

Definitely worth the stop. It cost about $40 for my three kids and I to take the tour. There are some really cool trees, giant wood carvings, a gondola ride and a very nice Indian museum. Very clean and well worth our time!

There were definitely some pretty trees on the hike. But for the price ($80 for our family) I expected the hike, esp the gondola, to be a little more exciting and interesting. We did other redwoods hikes on our trip for free that were much better. (Humboldt campground for instance)

It's worth a stop but don't expect to be wowed. There is not much else to do in the immediate area anyway. I imagine it was pretty cool in its heyday - like one of the other reviewers said, it's retro cool.